Wilderlands Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wildermods) wrote2018-01-21 09:04 pm
wildermods) wrote2018-01-21 09:04 pm
THE DARK LORD SAURON
THE DARK LORD SAURON
The Dark Lord Sauron is one of the greatest evils to ever exist in the world of Arda. Now that parts of Middle-Earth have been pulled into the Wilderlands, Sauron has set the gaze of his All-Seeing Eye over all of the Wilderlands. One of the two great powers, Sauron is often in conflict with the forces of the Unfinished Princess, ruler of the Golden Nation.
Sauron is an embodiment of pure evil, a being that revels in destruction and total control. The former servant of the Dark Lord Morgoth, a source of primordial evil in Arda, Sauron has risen up to take his place as the greatest threat in Middle-Earth. His evil forces kill and torture indiscriminately, often wielding great war machines, and the few survivors of the realms he invades are forced into grueling slavery. All land that Sauron touches withers and dies, choked by endless darkness and ash.
The nature of the Wilderlands means that the conquest and destruction he engages in is especially dangerous. The wild woods contain the spirit of the Green from every world there is. Destroy the woods in the Wilderlands and you destroy the spirit of the Green everywhere. While there are other forces threatening the life of the woods, Sauron is one of the greatest among them, and must be stopped before the Green is destroyed.
Sauron's forces of evil are mostly monsters and brutes. While they have some intelligence, they are largely submissive to Sauron's will, and live only for killing and tormenting other beings. Sauron's monstrous orcs make up the bulk of his army, and they often control lesser evil beings, like great trolls, wolf-like giant wargs, and other fell beasts. Alongside being known for their murderous tendencies, orcs are also known for their cannibalism, savoring the taste of manflesh.
Other terrible forces from different realms in the Wilderlands have also joined Sauron, due to the promise of being able to ravage the innocent indiscriminately. Wraiths, evil spirits, demons, Inferi and other undead, dragons from many realms, and giants are among their number. Many vampires and werewolves that have rebuked the self-control demanded of them by the Unfinished Princess have joined Sauron's forces instead of hers. Where the werewolves and vampires that have joined her want recognition as people, the werewolves and vampires that serve Sauron want to indulge in being monsters.
The Nazgul, also known as the Ring-wraiths, are powerful wraiths that were once nine mortal men Sauron gifted with magic rings. Corrupted by the rings, they wasted away until they became undying spectral wraiths, enslaved to the will of Sauron. They serve his will without question and are currently tasked with doggedly pursuing the One Ring, which is in some unknown place in the Wilderlands. The Nazgul are relentless in this task, and are excellent trackers capable of hunting their prey into a state of exhaustion.
The Nazgul have dangerous blades that can potentially leave slivers of cursed metal in those stabbed by them, that can slowly convert them into minor wraiths under Sauron's control. These fragments must be removed before they pierce the victim's heart. They're also capable of harming people with their Black Breath, which curses them to fall into a deep and terrible sleep until they fade and eventually die. This can only be cured by an herb called athelas, which fortunately grows in many places in the Wilderlands.
The most powerful of the Nazgul is the Witch-King of Angmar the leader of the Nine. According to prophecy, "not by the hand of man shall he fall." In Middle-Earth, he eventually fell at the hands of a woman, Eowyn, Shieldmaiden of Rohan, but he has been pulled from before that time.
The Nazgul have very few weaknesses. However, they can be waylaid and hindered by destroying their mounts, which are usually horses or winged fell beasts. They're also weak to fire.
It is unknown how exactly the dementors came about but their suspected origins are sinister. A wizard named Ekrizdis once lived on a fortress in the North Sea of the Earth of the Wizarding World-- and perhaps built the fortress himself. While there, he practiced the worst kinds of Dark magic, luring Muggle sailors there to torture and murder them. Years later, when Ekrizdis was gone and the concealment charms on the island faded, those who investigated found many horrors in Azkaban, one of which was an infestation of the dementors, perhaps created by Ekrizdis' dark experimentation.
Not knowing what to do with the dark creatures and fearing an invasion of the Mainlands the Wizarding World decided to build a prison on Azkaban for dark wizards and allow the dementors to be guards in exchange for allowing them to feed on the happiness of the inmates, leaving the inmates lost to despair. Years later, the dementors defected to the Dark Lord Voldemort and spread despair among enemy and muggle alike.
After chunks of their home universe were pulled into the Wilderlands, and Voldemort was killed by the Unfinished Princess, the dementors defected to Sauron, and now fight alongside his orcs and other servants, spreading despair and sucking out souls wherever they go.
The dementors have several dangerous abilities. Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions of human beings in order to survive, forcing their victims to relive their worst memories over and over again. The very presence of a Dementor can make the victim's surrounding atmosphere grow cold and dark and long-term exposure to dementors can cause depression, suicidal ideation, and insanity. Long-term exposure can also drain a mage of their ability to use their magic.
But the most fearsome ability of the dementors is call the Dementors' kiss. This is when they suck the soul out of a person through their mouth, leaving to face a fate worse than death, as a soul-less catatonic shell.
Dementors can be fought or resisted with several different means. In their home world, a summoning spell called a Patronus Charm, a magical manifestation of good will and happiness drawn from a positive memory, can harm dementors and drive them away. These charms tend to take the form of an animal that best represents the wielder. Spells similar to the Patronus charm that are spells of light, happiness, or purification, can also cause some harm to the creatures. Individuals can also fend off the depression and despair the dementors cause by changing form to something nonhuman (which makes it harder for them to feed), or focusing on thoughts that grant strength but don't invoke happiness they can feed on, like obsessions or feelings of vengeance.
The after effects of dementor exposure can leave an individual feeling weak, but can be treated with the simplest of things: chocolate.
The One Ring is an artifact of great power created by Sauron. In the course of forging the one Ring, Sauron put in a part of his own soul, making the ring intrinsically linked to his life force. Sauron oversaw the forging of other magical rings and forged the One Ring in secret with the intent to use it to control the minds and power of the other ringbearers. He was only partially successful. The nine human ringbearers became enslaved to his will, turning into the Nazgul, but the 7 dwarven ringbearers proved too resilient to have their minds entirely conquered, and the elven smith Celebrimbor forged the three rings of the Elves separately, leaving them free of Sauron's taint. Still, the One Ring was vastly powerful, nearly allowing Sauron to conquer Middle-Earth multiple times.
The Ring is capable of many powers, the most notable of which is granting invisibility to the bearer. This isn't true invisibility, as it's caused by causing the wearer to be pushed partly into the spirit realm, invisible to mortals, but visible to wraiths and potentially Sauron himself. The ring also allows its wielder to dominate the wills of other beings and influence their loyalties, and can greatly enhance the innate powers of its wielder.
The ring has several dangerous effects on those who carry it. It can cause a powerful and immediate obsession and paranoia, making a ringbearer feel possessive towards it. It can extend the lifespan of those who bear it, but unnaturally so, causing them to grow incredibly weary over time. Evil in nature, and an extension of Sauron himself, it has a tendency to try to be found by the Dark Lord, betraying its bearer by slipping off a finger at an inconvenient time, or tempting its bearer to wear it at times that can cause them to get sensed and caught by Sauron's minions. The ring also has a tendency to lure and tempt others to steal it from its current bearer.
The location of the ring is currently unknown, as it is a well-kept secret even among the free peoples of the Wilderlands. All that is known is that the ring is currently in the Wilderlands somewhere, still out of Sauron's hands, and that Sauron is trying to retrieve it to make his domination of the Wilderlands complete. This means that the ring may come into play at some point during the PCs' adventure and they may need to find a way to destroy the ring -- in the fires of Mordor's Mount Doom or in some other way -- to take the Dark Lord out of the picture.